


Jin (Spider Dad)

by TheTravelerWrites



Series: Monster Lovers: Hidden Creatures [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Arachne - Freeform, Arachnid, Exophilia, F/M, Human/Arachne, Human/Drider, Human/Monster Romance, Human/Spider, Interspecies Romance, Interspecies parent, Monster Boyfriend, Monster Dad - Freeform, Monster Lover, Monster sex, Reader Insert, Reader-Insert, Spider Monster, Terato, Teratophilia, drider, human/monster, loss of a child, technical discussion of sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-05-31 21:05:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15127811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTravelerWrites/pseuds/TheTravelerWrites
Summary: A single mother moves to a small town and her daughter makes friends with a creature from the woods.





	1. Chapter 1

It was an out of the way place, recessed behind a long, gravel driveway and a wall of forest on all sides. Your closest neighbor was half a mile away. That was fine with you; you liked your privacy. One of the downsides of living in an apartment building in the city was that everyone knew everyone’s business. If it wasn’t fighting, it was fucking, and you didn’t want to listen to either of those things.

Luna was excited about actually having a back yard, even if it was surrounded by trees, as she’d only ever lived in apartments before. She asked if she could have a pet now, and you said you’d think about it as long as she kept it small.

The first day, after the movers had dropped off the boxes and you and Luna had eaten a pizza for lunch, she went out into the backyard to play.

“Don’t go into the woods!” You called to her. “I mean it! I want to be able to see you from the kitchen window. If you go past the treeline, you are dead meat, little missy!”

“Okay, Mama!” She called back, taking her biggest tonka truck out with her, her curly pigtails bouncing as she ran. You supposed you were going to have to built a sand box for her eventually.

You set about unpacking the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher for a quick rinse, then started hanging a few decorations. That’s when you heard Luna scream.

Looking out of the window, you realized you couldn’t see her. With your heart in your throat, you raced outside.

“Luna!” You shouted. “Luna, where are you!”

“Mama!” You hear her call somewhere you your right. You saw a flash of her bright pink shirt and ran toward it. She was quite a ways into the forest, you saw with irritation. When she finally came into view, she was sitting on some kind of rope swing and jumped down when you approached. The rope was white, opalescent, and the circumference of your forearm, attached to the branch above her. Her truck was nowhere to be found.

You fell to your knees and took her by the shoulders. “What were you doing out here?!”

“I wanted to climb the tree,” She said in a piteous voice. “I never had before. But I fell.”

“Are you hurt?” You asked, checking her limbs for scrapes or cuts. She shook her head hard enough that her pigtails whipped around her face.

“Jin caught me,” She said, pointing to the rope.

Your brow furrowing, you asked, “Who’s Jin?”

“Jin’s a big spider!” She squealed delightedly. That was Luna, no fear of anything, even creepy crawlies. “He’s got so many arms and legs! He caught me when I was falling and then made me the swing so I could get down.” She pointed to the rope again.

Hmm. Luna hadn’t had an imaginary friend before, but she was at the right age for one, and a big move like this, especially now that her father was out of the picture for good, definitely could trigger a sudden need for a friend. You smiled.

“Well, Jin must be a really big spider, then,” You said.

“He is!” She said as you took her hand and led her back to the house. “He’s even bigger than you!”

You shuddered and tried not to imagine a spider larger than a human.

“Well, it’s good that you’ve got a friend to play with, but you disobeyed me. I told you not to go into the forest. So no dessert tonight and your going to bed an hour early for the next week.”

“Aw!” She whined. “That’s not fair!”

“It is absolutely fair,” You said, wondering if maybe you should erect a fence. “You’re lucky I don’t take your tablet privileges, too.”

Luna grumbled and made a face, but didn’t protest again.

The next morning, you took Luna into town to get her registered for preschool. She was five already, but her birthday fell too late in the year to start kindergarten, something she lamented about endlessly.

Once back home, you fed her lunch and laid her down for a nap so that you could fill out some job applications you’d picked up from town while you were out. You’d saved enough to put a down payment on the house and pay the first six months of bills, but if you didn’t find work soon, you’d both be sleeping in your van at the end of that time period. Not many places in town were hiring, you noticed, but there had to be something.

Just as you were about to put pen to paper, you heard a knocking on your back door and a scuttling sound on the boards of the porch.

Frowning, you stood from your desk and looked out of the kitchen window to find no one on the back porch. Unlocking the door and opening it, you looked out around the yard and saw nothing. It wasn’t until you backed up to shut the door again that you saw Luna’s tonka truck sitting on the door mat.

“That’s it,” You said to yourself. “I’m building that fence.”

When Luna woke up again, you showed her the truck. You were surprised to see she was upset.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“I gave this to Jin for helping me,” She said, sniffling. “Maybe he doesn’t like me anymore.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s it,” You said. “Maybe he thought you’d like it back. Maybe he didn’t know you meant for him to keep it.”

“Really?”

“Sure,” You said.

“Well, how do I tell him that he can have it if you won’t let me go into the woods?” She asked in an accusatory voice.

You shrugged. “Dunno. But I’m serious about that, Luna-Belle. Don’t you go back into those woods, you got me?”

“Yes, Mommy,” She said, flouncing grumpily back into her room.

You smiled at her outrage, but you still wondered how the truck got back to the porch. Maybe Luna ran out while you weren’t looking and got it; you wouldn’t put it past her. But who knocked on the door? You knew she was sleeping; you still used a baby monitor so that you could hear her when she played in her room in case she hurt herself, which was often because she liked to climb things. So you knew she hadn’t left her room.

Maybe it was a passing hunter or something. You had heard townsfolk talking about hunting season starting up soon. Maybe one got a little impatient. You hoped they weren’t hunting too close to the house, though.

Jeez. Country living came with a lot of unforeseen complications.

That night, you put Luna to sleep with a song and a story, and then set up the TV. The WiFi wouldn’t be hooked up until next week, but you had a PS4 and several games you’d yet to play, so you settled in for a night of offline open-world good times.

Later, you paused the game to stand up and get the cramp out of your legs. Walking into the kitchen for a snack and a drink, you hear a squeaking over the baby monitor on your desk by the living room door frame that gave you pause.

“I wanted you to have this,” You heard Luna said. For a moment, there was silence. “Mommy said you didn’t know I wanted you to keep it, but it’s for you.”

You almost expected a response, but there wasn’t one, just a clattering sound. Luna giggled and said something you couldn’t understand.

Good thing this type of baby monitor was two-way. “Luna!” You said through the receiver. “Go to sleep.”

“Sorry, Mama,” She said before whispering. “See you later!” You heard another squeak and the rustling of her blankets as they moved, and then silence.

Next week, while Luna was in preschool, you used a little of your savings to purchase some lumber and tools to build the fence in the backyard. Unfortunately, Luna was a willful, impulsive girl, and if she got it into her head that she was going to go into the woods, she was going to do it. The only way you knew how to stop her from accidentally walking into the path of a hunter’s bullet was to build the fence.

You were a pretty handy woman; you could learn to do anything that involved your hands. You had actually worked construction a time or two in your adult life, and as a teenager when you lived with your dad in the country, you had helped your him build all kinds of things, including several types of fence.

After having the lumber delivered to the house, you did some measuring and began sawing the lumber into seven-foot planks. Using a post-hole digger, you dug out holes for the corner posts, placing them in their holes, and laid the cement in the open space between the posts and the dirt one by one. Once you had all the corners and the posts that the two gates, one in front and one at the side, put into place, you ran a string between them to hold them upright and denote the shape of the fence. Now you had to wait for the cement to dry before doing more.

Wiping your brow, you took off your work gloves, downed a glass of water, and went to pick up Luna from school.

When you got back home, you showed her the fence in progress. She laughed at it.

“What’s so funny?” You asked her.

“That’s not going to keep Jin out,” She said smugly.

“I’m not trying to keep Jin out, I’m trying to keep _you in_ ,” You told her. “You have an unfortunate habit of running off that I don’t like.”

“Jin would look out for me if I went into the woods, he said so,” She said.

“Mm-hmm,” You said. “Don’t touch anything out here until I get the fence finished.”

“Okay. Can I have a snack now?”

It took a few days to finished the fence, but you were proud of the result. Sure, you had to use the cheapest wood available, but you could always replace it later once you had a job. Speaking of which, no one had called you back. Maybe you should apply one town over.

One morning, Luna came down with a feathery barrette in her hair that you didn’t recognize.

“Where’d you get that?” You asked her as you put a plate of oatmeal with strawberries in it in front of her at the table.

“Jin made it for me,” She said. “He says people leave stuff in the woods all the time. A lot of it is gross junk he has to get rid of, but some stuff he keeps. He found a barrette the other day and added feathers to it. He thought I’d like it.”

You smirked to yourself. She must have gotten it at preschool. While you didn’t like the fact that she was lying about where she got it, at least she was making friends.

Luna continued to get little presents every now and again, like a snail shell necklace and the sharp canine tooth from a fox. She kept all her little treasures in her music box and took them out regularly to admire them as if they were jewels.

The few months that you had been there had been relatively quiet and peaceful, but you still hadn’t found a job. You were starting to get a little worried. You’d applied everywhere you could think of, and only three places had returned your calls. You’d only been to one job interview, and they hadn’t asked you to come back. Your savings were running low and you were considering moving back to the city with what was left.

You’d sat Luna down and explained it to her, and she cried, mostly because she didn’t want to leave Jin. You didn’t understand why she thought she’d have to leave her imaginary friend here, but when you told her he could come too, she insisted he couldn’t because he had to live in the forest where his food was and he’d starve in the city. She had cried herself to sleep, and you sat with her, helpless to soothe her distress. Toddlers were hard to understand sometimes.

“Mama!” Luna called as she came down the stairs from her room the next morning, bouncing and squealing. “Jin came to see me again. I told him we might have to move, but he doesn’t want us to go.”

You sighed. “Listen, baby, I know you like it here, but unless Mama can find a job in town, we don’t have a choice.”

“That’s what I told Jin,” She said. “And he gave me this to give to you. He said it should help.”

She opened her hand, and what looked like eight large, raw diamonds lay there, a few falling out of her tiny grasp, glittering against the dark wood of the kitchen floor.

“What?” You said, scrambling to pick up the gemstones. “Luna, where did you get these?”

“I told you, Jin gave them to me. He wants us to stay. He’s lonely.”

Now you were getting worried. What if Jin _was_ real? Where else would she have gotten real diamonds, if they were real diamonds? You’d cleaned every inch of this house when you moved in, so you were certain you’d have found something like diamonds just laying around.

More than that, you were worried that if Jin was real, he wasn’t a giant spider or some other fanciful creature, but a full grown man with nefarious intent. You really didn’t like the idea of anyone or anything coming to visit your daughter in the dead of night and leaving her presents, but if you called the police, they’d think you were crazy. You needed proof.

That night, you purposefully left the back gate open and sat on the back porch with the lights off. This far in the woods, it was pitch black with just enough light from the upper windows to cast a very soft light on the fence, no brighter than starlight.

You waited for hours, really bored and starting to feel stupid, but just as you were about to stand up and go inside, you heard a shuffling from the woods coming toward the gate.

You stopped moving and watched with your heart hammering as a large mass ignored the gate and simply climbed over the fence. It was so big that it wouldn’t have fit through the gate anyhow. You couldn’t see it well in the low-light, but the silhouette definitely said _spider_.

It didn’t seem to notice you in the shadows of the porch as it skittered across the lawn and vaulted silently onto the porch roof, moving slowly and quietly to Luna’s window. You heard a soft tapping against glass.

“Jin!” Luna said in her whisper-yell thing that she did as she opened her window.

“Hello, Little Bear,” You heard a second voice whisper, far softer than your daughter’s. It’s voice was much deeper, though, like a man. “Did my gift help?”

“Yeah, Mama took them to a man in the city and he said they cost a lot of money, so now we can stay longer!”

“That’s wonderful,” He replied, and you could hear a smile in his voice. “I’m happy you’re staying.”

“Mama didn’t believe me when I said you gave them to me. She still doesn’t think you’re real. She thinks I made you up. How come you won’t talk to Mama?”

“Oh, I don’t think your Mama would like me all that much, little one,” He said. You thought he sounded sad. “Most people don’t.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m big and scary and a lot of hum-- people don’t like spiders.”

“I like spiders,” Luna said defensively. “And I don’t think you’re scary.”

“Well, that’s very brave of you, Little Bear,” He said. “But it is late, and you need rest. Go to sleep now, precious. I’ll come and see you another day, all right?”

“Okay. G’night, Jin,” She said, and you heard the squeak of her window closing.

You heard soft scuttling as the creature moved and then jumped down into the yard again. As it was making its way back toward the fence, you flicked on the porch light.

He turned and froze, seeing you standing there just as stunned. He was huge. He was mostly spider, but where his spider head should have been, a humanoid torso rose upward. He had eight spindly legs on the spider part and four arms on his torso, both of which had two fingers and a thumb.

He was completely silver and black all over; the hairs on his spider body was the same silvery color as his skin, though the ends of his legs and his hands were black, as was his long hair.

His face had eight eyes, four large ones and fours small ones. The large ones were in the place where normal human eyes would be, but the smaller ones lined his brow, all pitch black. He didn’t have mandibles, but a wide mouth with only four very large fangs, two on top and two on bottom. He had no other teeth.

He stood there, head bowed, posture tense, unsure of what to do. You’re sure he expected you to scream, and you kind of felt like it, but the conversation he’d had with Luna stuck in your mind and gave you pause.

“You’re Jin?” You asked shakily.

He took a moment to answer you, but eventually he said, in a hesitant tone, “Yes.”

“You’re the one who caught Luna when she fell out of the tree?”

“Yes.”

“You’re the one who gave us the diamonds and has been leaving presents for Luna?”

“Yes.”

You took a step forward and he took a step back, as if expecting an attack.

“Why?”

“To which question?”

“Why are you leaving us gifts?”

“I want Luna to stay.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “I’m alone. Your daughter is the only person who has ever seen me and not run off screaming. I find her irrational lack of terror at my presence rather endearing, if I’m honest.”

You chuckled a little breathlessly. “Yeah, she’s always been like that. Not afraid of anything.”

“Are you afraid?”

You looked up at him and shrugged. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.”

“I see.” He backed up again. “Then I shan’t trouble you further, and if it is your wish, I’ll not see Luna again.”

You sighed sharply, tilting your head a little guiltily. “No, I… I do owe you a great deal. You did save Luna’s life, and you did give us those diamonds, which could pay for the next two years in this house, if I’m frugal. Where did you find those, by the way?”

“The forest is full of useful things, if you know where to look.”

“That is extremely vague,” You said sardonically.

“But it’s true,” He replied pleasantly.

You looked him up and down, chewing on your cheek. “You promise me you’re not going to hurt her?”

He shook his head, his hair rippling as he did so. “I’d never. Were that my intent, I would have had plenty of opportunity to do so before now.”

“True,” You said begrudgingly. “Okay, I’ll make you a deal. You can come see Luna, but only during the day, only in this backyard, and only when I’m present. Is that clear? If you go against that even once, I don’t care how many diamonds you bring me, we’re moving back to the city and you’ll never see either of us again. Understand?”

“Yes,” He said, nodding fervently. “I agree to your terms.”

You gulped and extended your hand. “Shake on it?”

He seemed taken aback that you were actually willing to touch him, but he stepped forward tentatively and very lightly clasped your hands. He didn’t shake it, merely made brief contact and pulled away immediately, scuttling back toward the fence.

“Okay. Tomorrow, then. It’ll be a surprise for Luna.”

He nodded, giving you a grin that was nothing short of horrifying. You willed yourself not to shudder. He then leapt over the fence effortlessly and disappeared in the trees.

Taking a deep breath, you went back inside, trying and failing to fall asleep.

The next day was Saturday, and you woke from a fitful doze to find Jin standing outside of your back fence with just his head poking over the wood. You nearly jumped out of your socks at the sight of him, and had to take several breaths to calm your racing heart. When he saw you at the kitchen window, he waved. You reluctantly waved back.

Luna was up a few minutes after you, taking a piece of toast from your plate instead of eating from her own.

“Hey, Luna,” You said.

“What?” She asked, butter and jam smeared across her cheeks.

“Look outside.”

She did, and her eyes went big. “Jin! Mama, it’s Jin!”

She rushed for the back door just as Jin vaulted over the fence. She leapt from the porch and into his four arms, and he hugged her tight, holding her at least seven feet off the ground and swinging her so that her legs dangled and swayed. He grinned as she giggled.

You watched them interacting apprehensively, but he seemed genuinely affectionate toward Luna.

He let her slip down to the ground and she ran back to you, bouncing in excitement.

“See, Mama, I told you he was real!” She squealed in delight.

“So, you did, baby. So you did,” You replied, smiling.

“You mother has agreed to let me come and visit you during the day,” Jin said happily. “No more hiding and no more secrets.”

“Yay!” Luna exclaimed, dancing around his legs animatedly. He laughed at her exuberance and picked his legs up as she ran underneath him.

They immediately began to play together; Luna would chase Jin around the backyard, Jin easily skittering out of her reach, only to turn around and chase after her, bending low to snatch her up, tickled her breathless and causing her to shriek and squirm. Then he would set her back down on the ground and start it over again.

Then, when Luna grew bored of the chase game, she went upstairs and pulled down every toy she owned and explained what they were and where they came from to Jin in minute detail, to which he listened intently, inspecting each one until she moved on to the next.

Then, she got out a bunch of board games and cards and insisted he learn how to play at least a few of them. She crushed him at goldfish, Operation, and Guess Who, though he was naturally gifted at checkers.

You watched them together quietly, not participating, marveling at how at ease Luna was with him. She was normally a reserved child, but with him she was as bright and happy and open as you’d ever seen her. You couldn’t help feel a sense of… calm.

A few hours later, Luna became hungry and you fed her lunch.

“Are you gonna eat with us, Jin?” Luna asked as she carefully brought her plate to the table on the back porch so that she could eat and talk to Jin at the same time.

“Oh, I don’t eat like you do, Little Bear,” He said, his four fangs shining in the sunlight. “I fear you may find how I feed a bit… gross.”

“Aw,” She pouted. She ate her sandwich and had to be prodded to finish her carrots, but she ate them when Jin said he had another present for her and went to retrieve it. Luna was yawning by the time he returned.

He handed her a grey stone with what looked like an imprint of a flower in it.

“It’s petrified,” He said. “Hundreds of thousands of years old, just lying in the dirt for all that time, waiting for someone to pick it up and admire it.”

“It’s so pretty,” Luna said.

“Yes,” You said, looking over her shoulder at it. “Now what do we say?”

“Thank you, Jin!” She replied happily, and he bowed.

“Alright, baby girl, it’s nap time,” You said, picking up her plate.

Luna started toward the door, but stopped and swung to look at Jin, her eyes worried.

“You’ll still be here when I wake up, won’t you?” She asked sadly.

Jin looked to you, standing behind Luna, and you nodded. He smiled and returned his gaze to Luna.

“Of course,” He said.

Luna squealed and jumped, clapping her hands, and went straight upstairs to bed. You followed, leaving Jin crouched in the back yard, looking after the two of you.

You came back out with a two glasses of water. Jin was sitting in the same position he had been in when you left him.

“I know you don’t eat like humans, but would you like something to drink?”

He smiled his weird, fangey smile. “I would appreciate that very much,” He said, taking a glass. “Luna has more energy than a full grown grizzly bear.”

“Is that why you call her “Little Bear?” You asked.

“Partly. That and when I first saw her, she was climbing a tree like a baby bear. I almost didn’t catch her in time. I was trying to keep my distance.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t want to scare her. Humans don’t exactly take to creatures like me. She, however, thought I was fascinating.” He took a swig of his water. “She didn’t even take a second to be shocked or scared. She just… accepted me. Right away.” He looked far off in thought. “That’s never happened before.”

You sat down on the steps to the porch nearby and took a drink of your own water. “She craves attention from people. I think it has a lot to do with her father.”

“What about her father?”

“She doesn’t have one, not really,” You said a little bitterly. “He left us before she was born.”

“What?” He seemed aghast. “Why would he do that?”

“Luna’s dad never wanted kids. We’d been together for nearly three years, but the second I got pregnant by accident, he dropped me like a hot box of rocks. He said he’d take me back if I got an abortion, but I refused to do it. I wanted Luna, and I didn’t care what he said. He seemed to think bullying me would get him what he wanted. Oh, how wrong he was.”

He tilted his head and frowned, but didn’t say anything. You weren’t sure why you felt compelled to tell him all this, but he seemed genuinely concerned.

“I cut him out completely. I got him taken off the birth certificate, got him to sign papers relinquishing parental rights, and revoked the order for child support. It was exactly what he wanted, but it was worth losing the three hundred bucks a month just so I didn’t have to deal with him ever again. It’s like he no longer exists and I’m perfectly happy with that arrangement. I never have to see his face or hear his voice again, and that’s fine with me.”

“How did Luna take it?”

“She asked if she didn’t have a daddy anymore. I didn’t know how to answer her, because the truth was she’d never had a father, not really. I tried to explain that she wouldn’t be seeing him anymore. She was upset at first, but now she doesn’t even mention him.”

“Do you think she misses him?”

You sighed unhappily. “I’m sure she does to some extent, but he’s resented her since her birth, and forcing him to participate in her life was making it worse. Every time he let her down, it destroyed her spirit piece by piece. I couldn’t continue to watch it happen. This is for the best for everyone.”

“It just seems so unnatural,” He said, grimacing.

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” He began, taking a breath. “For my kind, the females carry and lay the eggs, but once they are laid, it is the male’s job to look after the eggs and then raise the young when they hatch until they’re able to hunt on their own. For a male to abandon their own young while they are in the formative years of their lives is just… beastly.”

“I don’t disagree,” You said grimly. “But after five years of hounding Luna’s father to spend time with her or show her any kind of attention or just _love_ her, I had to give up. There’s only so many times I could see that awful disappointed look on her face. It just wasn’t worth the heartbreak when he broke yet another promise to her.” You shook your head and stared into the distance. “I’m her mom, and my job is to protect her, even from her father. Especially from her father.”

“I could never imagine leaving my children,” He said, scratching his head and frowning.

“Do you have children?” You asked him.

You immediately regretted asking. His face fell and he looked away toward the woods with sorrow and longing.

“I would have,” He said softly. “Had I not been so careless.”

“I’m sorry,” You said, unsure what else you could say.

“It was long ago,” He said with a finality that made it clear he was not open to discussing it.

You sat quietly with him then, sipping your waters, waiting for Luna to wake up.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jin stops visiting the reader and her daughter, so the reader goes out to find him and learns about the loss that has driven him away.

Weeks had gone by with Jin a regular presence at the house, coming up from the forest after Luna had come home from preschool. They played for hours, and he would listen intently to her day in school. When it was time for bed, he would climb onto the roof of the porch outside her window and give her a kiss goodnight on her cheek or forehead, careful not to spear her with his fangs, listening as you read her a story and sang her a song. Luna asked Jin once if he would sing her a song, and he replied with a smile that he didn’t know any.

On the weekends, they were inseparable. Jin was already there in the morning when you both woke up and didn’t leave until well after Luna’s bedtime. You wondered when he had time sleep and to hunt for himself, considering how much time he spent with the two of you, but he seemed happy so you didn’t ask.

Most of the time he would head into the forest once Luna was asleep, but sometimes, he would stick around for a glass of water and a chat. You learned that he ate the same way most spiders did, by injecting his prey with a venom that would dissolve the insides, which he would then drink; therefore, he didn’t eat solid foods.

Curious, you began to experiment to see if there was some human things he could ingest. Most of it didn’t sit well in his stomach, but he did seem to develop a taste for coffee, hot cocoa, and fireball whiskey. The last one was a surprise. Maybe he just liked things hot and spicy.

One day, he didn’t come. You and Luna waited and waited, but he never showed. You convinced her that maybe he didn’t feel well that day, but you were concerned.

After a week of no-shows, you were more than concerned. Luna was inconsolable, thinking he’d abandoned her. She begged you to go out and look for him, but you couldn’t leave her alone and you couldn’t take her with you into the forest, especially if Jin wasn’t with you. If _he_ was out there, heaven only knew what else lurked in the woods that wasn’t nearly as friendly.

Finally, you made the decision to hunt him down. Something happened; it had to have. You knew Jin well enough at this point to know that he loved Luna and that he’d never leave her with no notice unless something was really wrong.

You dropped Luna off at school, came home, packed a bag with some basic survival stuff, just in case, and opened the gate into the woods. Taking a breath, you stepped out of your backyard.

You had been trekking for about an hour when it began to rain. Thankfully, it was a warm rain and your bag was waterproof. Undeterred, you continued. You knew at some point you’d have to turn back when Luna was let out of school, but you’d come back tomorrow. And the next day, and the day after than. You had to know what happened, even if you found his dead body. You had to know. Luna needed to know he hadn’t just left her, like her father did.

After a few hours, you sat down on a stump to catch your breath. The rain had slacked off to a drizzle, and as you raised your water bottle to your lips, you heard it. Sobbing.

“Jin?” You called, but received no answer. You followed the sound and found him with his spider body laying on the forest floor, with him beating his head against a tree, crying uncontrollably. His forehead was bleeding down his face, but he didn’t seem to notice or care.

“Stop!” You said, putting your hand over his forehead to prevent him from hurting himself further. “What are you doing?! What happened, Jin? Are you alright?”

“It should be me!” He said, weeping with his head cradled in your hands.

“Jin,” You said, laying his head on your shoulder. “Tell me. Tell me what’s going on. Luna’s worried about you.”

“She’s better off without me,” He said piteously. “I’m a failure.”

“Tell me what happened, please,” You said, stroking his hair. He wrapped his long arms around you.

“I saw her,” He said in a small voice. “My former mate. She was with her new mate. They had their young with them, five beautiful little ones, and they looked just like her. It should have been me. I should be their father.”

You wrapped your arms around his shoulders and rubbed his cold, wet back. “Tell me.”

He sniffed. “She’d laid our eggs and left, like the females always do. Carrying the eggs takes a lot of energy out of the females and they have to rebuilt their strength, so they spend weeks hunting while the males care for the eggs. The children are usually born by the time they return.” He gulped down another sob. “There was a storm, a hurricane. The cave where I had the eggs flooded and I had to move them. I had them in my arms…” He pulled away from you, staring at his four arms with deep sorrow.

“There was… there was a bolt of lightening that struck a tree, and it collapsed on top of me, knocking me out. When I came to…” His hands clenched into fists and his face pulled tight in a grimace of pain. “They were crushed underneath me.”

“Oh, god,” You whispered, holding his face in your hands.

“After it was over, only one egg remained. I held out hope that it would hatch, but it never did. When my mate came back and discovered what happened, she left me. I kept the last egg with me for a long time, nearly a year, refusing to accept the truth. Eventually I had to let it go. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do.”

“Jin, I’m so sorry,” You told him, pressing your forehead to his bruised and bloody one. “I’m so sorry.”

“I saw them a week ago, out in the forest, laughing and playing. I hid in shame so that they wouldn’t see me. I saw them, and saw what should have been mine. I saw my mate and what could have been my children with another male, and it destroyed me. I haven’t moved from this spot since. I was hoping to starve to death.” He looked up at you, tears still leaking from all eight of his black eyes. “I didn’t expect you to come looking for me. I… I thought you only tolerated my presence for Luna’s sake.”

You weren’t prepared to admit otherwise. “She’s sick to death with worry, by the way. She’s scared you left her like he father did. She’s hurt.”

“I…” He scrubbed his face with his upper pair of hands. “I didn’t mean to hurt her,” He said.

“Jin, she loves you,” You told him. “You’ve been a better dad to her than her own father ever was. She needs you in her life. Please come back. At least come see her and talk to her, and for god's sake let me treat your head. I can’t believe you did this to yourself.”

“I’m sorry,” He said, standing up on his many legs and allowing you to take his hand and lead him back toward the house. “I didn’t realize how upset she’d be.”

“She didn’t even sleep the first night,” You told him. “She’s been crying for a week.”

“I’m sorry,” He repeated. He sounded so beat down. You’d never lost a child and couldn’t imagine the pain it must have caused him, though it was evident on his face. He looked miserable and much thinner than he had when you’d seen him last.

“I’ll make you a pot of coffee when we get back,” You said. “I’ll throw some fireball in it. Might make you feel better.”

“Maybe,” He said, though his face told you that he doubted it.

You got back to the house, but he was too weak from hunger to jump the the fence. After a moment of indecision, you took your axe and chopped down half of the fence that you yourself had built so that he could get in. It surprised him, which at the very least replaced his sorrowful expression for a short time as he watched you.

He pulled himself up on the back porch, settling in and watching you make a pot of coffee from the open back door. You added a couple of shots of fireball and gave him the entire pot, which he downed immediately and asked for a second.

He sipped the next one more slowly, and you pulled a chair up next to him so that you could talk.

“How long ago did all this happen?”

“Five years,” He said. “In the spring. That’s when mating season is.”

“What have you been doing since then?” You asked.

“Wandering,” He said. “This isn’t my home forest. I ran from my original home in disgrace after my mate left. I just couldn’t face her or anyone else I knew.” He sighed, taking another sip. “That’s what shocked me so much about seeing her here. Our breed are not typically wanderers. For her to be this far north is unusual.” He looked back at the forest with narrowed eyes. “I wonder why she’s here.”

“Do you still love her?” You asked, wondering why that question made your heart feel like it was being squeezed.

He sighed again. “Once, I loved her more than all things in the world. Now, the shame and disappointment has destroyed all other feelings I might have had. I can’t think of her anymore without experiencing incredible amounts of pain. I’m… I’m glad she’s moved on and is doing well.” He finished lamely.

“But…” You asked.

“But I want the life _he_ has. Her new mate. I want those little ones scuttling under her legs to be mine. They would have been if I had been able to do my goddamn job,” He said with a scowl, thumping a fist against the small patio table.

“Getting hit by a tree in the middle of a storm was hardly your fault, Jin,” You told him.

“I should have been more careful,” He said morosely.

You got up from your chair and sat in front of him between his forelegs, facing him, so that you were looking up at him and he was looking down at you. He peered at you in surprise.

“Can I tell you something?” You asked him.

“Of course, anything,” He said.

You took a large breath and blew it out hard. “When I first found out I was pregnant with Luna, I was so scared. I knew exactly how her father would react when he found out. I always knew he hated kids and I knew he wasn’t going to change his mind, even for his own kid. My dad died a few years ago and my mom lives in another country and we're not on the best of terms, so I knew if I decided to keep her, I’d be on my own.

“I tried to hide the pregnancy as long as I could so that I could get my affairs in order, not that I had much. Eventually I told him, and he threw me out, just like I expected him to. He wanted me to get rid of her, and I refused. He was pretty angry at me. It was like the three years of our relationship meant nothing now that I was so selfishly carrying his baby.”

He frowned but didn’t interrupt. His face was attentive and a little annoyed.

“I had enough money saved up to feed myself for a while, but not nearly enough for a place to stay. All I had was my van. For the last five months of my pregnancy, I lived in that van. I slept in it in the middle of winter. The best I could hope for was to find a closed in parking garage to keep us out of the elements. I finally found a job, but it still wasn’t enough to support us. I was alone from the beginning. I was alone for the entire pregnancy. I gave birth to her in that van by myself and I nearly bled to death in the process.”

“Oh god,” He said.

“What I wouldn’t have given to have someone like you there with me,” You told him. “You’ve loved Luna since you met her, and after the first time I saw you together, I knew you’d never hurt her. I wish you had been there in the early days. I wish you had been her father. You’d never have left me alone to deal with it all by myself. I wish it had been you.”

You surprised yourself by admitting that. It appeared to surprise him too. He reached out with one of his three fingered hands and gently stroked your cheek. “I wish that, too,” He said.

You stood up. With him belly-down against the porch floor, he was mostly at eye level. You took his face and pressed a tentative kiss to his lips. His hands snaked around your body and held you against him. When you pulled back, it was the first time you’d seen him smile.

Your eyes were drawn to the wound to his forehead, still bleeding.

“Let me go get my first aid kit,” He said. “I need to take care of your head. It’ll make Luna even more worried if she sees you bleeding.”

“I didn’t mean to worry her,” He said sadly.

“I know,” You said, moving toward the house. “She’ll be so happy to see you.”

After you patched up his head as best you could, even though most of his face was bruised, it was time to pick Luna up from preschool.

“You had better be here when I get back,” You told him sternly. “Do not break her heart again.”

He shook his head. “I won’t. I’ll be here. I swear.”

When you picked up Luna from school, she was looking tired and unhappy. She was just as quiet as she had been for the past week on the ride home. When you got back, she sat on the couch and turned on the TV, not even asking for a snack.

You didn’t tell her that you had found Jin, not wanted to get her hopes up in case he did up and leave, but you checked the back window, and he was there, waiting. He looked up at you expectantly, and you held up a hand for him to wait.

“Luna,” You called to her as she sat like a zombie on the couch, watching cartoons. “Let’s go out to the backyard.”

“I don’t want to,” She said.

“Luna, there’s a surprise outside,” You insisted.

“I don’t care,” She replied flatly.

You opened the backdoor and told Jin to call out to her.

“Luna?” He called softly.

Luna’s eyes and mouth opened wide. She jumped off of the couch and ran to the backdoor, stopping just short of stepping out. She started sobbing.

“ _Jin!_ ”

“I’m sorry I was gone so long, Little Bear,” He said, holding his arms out to her. She jumped into them immediately, crying loudly.

“Where were you?” She cried. “What happened to your face? I waited and waited and you didn’t come! You left me alone like Daddy did!”

He hugged her tighter. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Jin had an… accident, baby,” You told her. “He was hurt. He couldn’t come back before today.”

“Is that true?” Luna said, pulling back to look at him.

“Yes, my dear,” He said. “I was not well. I’m better now.”

“Are you going to leave again?” She asked him, sniffling.

“No,” He said solemnly. “I swear. I won’t ever leave you again.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

You had your arms folded and scowled at him as he hugged her again. He withered a little under your glare.

 _Don’t lie to her_ , You mouthed at him.

He shook his head slightly. _I’m not._

Luna cried for a long time, during which Jin did not release her. When she was done, he asked her about her week, about her friends at school, if she was eating enough. For dinner, you made her a sandwich so she could eat while sitting in his grip.

That night, she didn’t want to go to bed, scared to death that he would leave again. He promised her he would still be there in the morning, but she cried and cried. He held her until she fell asleep.

He handed her off to you after a gentle hug and quick kiss on the cheek, saying, “I need to hunt. I’ve gone a week without food and I’m weak. I swear I’ll return here when I’m done.”

“I’m staying up to make sure you keep that promise,” You warned him.

He nodded grimly, and set off. You heart lurched as he disappeared into the forest. You could only hope he would be true to his word.

When he did return, two hours later, you were still waiting for him on the porch with another pot of coffee. He waved as he came in through the gaping hole you’d created in the fence.

“I’m gonna have to fix that eventually,” You told him. "I don’t want other things getting in the backyard.”

“Besides me, you mean?” He asked.

“I’m not even sure if I want you in my backyard anymore,” You replied haughtily.

He sighed. “I know you’re angry with me. You have every right to be.”

You growled. “See, that’s the thing, though. I don’t. I don't have any right to be angry with you.” You waved your hands and shrugged. “You have no obligation to us. You stayed here with Luna because you wanted to, not because you had any tie to us. It’s wrong of me to expect more than that from you. I was just...” You sighed. "I just hated seeing that look on Luna's face. Again. But you didn't make us any promises that you'd stay."

“Well, I’m making one now,” He said seriously. “I promise to stay near and care for you and Luna for as long as you want me to.” He looked inward, reflective. “Strange. This is almost like a mate’s pledge.”

You gulped. “How so?”

“Well, when we take a mate, we vow to protect them and our children. It’s a pretty standard pledge for our kind. Strange that I’m offering such a pledge to a human.”

You smiled a little. “Do you plan on being my mate?”

He looked startled at the thought. “I like you certainly, but we couldn’t procreate. I don’t even know if we could…” He trailed off suggestively.

“Be intimate, you mean?" You asked, and he nodded. "Why’s that?”

“Your body is vastly different than an Arachne female,” He admitted. “Like those,” He said, pointing at your breasts. “Females of our kind don’t have those. What are they for?”

“They’re for feeding infants,” You replied. “Mammals drink milk while they are babies because it’s the only thing their tiny tummies can process and absorb safely, which the mothers make in their bodies. There’s formula that you can use, too, but a mother’s breast milk has a lot of antibodies and natural enzymes that protect the baby’s immune system.” You shrugged. “Secondarily, they are very sensitive, especially the nipples, so many people enjoy touching and playing with them during sex. But not while feeding a baby, that’s gross.”

“I see. What are nipples?” He asked innocently.

You laughed, and pulled up your shirt, showing him. “That’s were the milk comes out.”

“ _Ohh,_ ” He said. “That makes sense.”

It was refreshing to meet a male who could look at a pair of breasts in a non-sexual context, even if he wasn’t human and had no idea what breasts were for. It was still nice.

“How does your kind… reproduce? Do you enjoy it or is it just compulsory?” You asked.

“It’s compulsory to a point. We do go into ‘heats,’ you might call them, but it is also enjoyable,” He said. “Very much so. But I imagine it’s much different that what humans do.”

“In what way?”

“Well,” He began. “The female stimulates the male’s palps, which are inside his body hidden in an opening on his abdomen. This is done either orally or digitally until the male ejaculates. The ejaculate is then taken into hand by either the male or female and is inserted into the females opening, and then the male rubs the sensitive outer folds to make the entryway contract and clamp shut, which is very pleasurable and prevents the sperm from escaping. Such practices allow the inside of the female’s ovum to relax and move the sperm into the egg chamber, where the eggs are then fertilized.”

“That's a rather... technical description. It sounds a little like something humans do called mutual masturbation, only normally humans do that to avoid pregnancy. And also because it feels really good.”

“Then how do humans reproduce?”

“We have interlocking parts,” You explained. “The male inserts his genitals into the female’s body and they both find pleasure in the act, usually. The male ejaculates directly into and just outside of the womb, from inside the woman’s body, and the sperm just sort of… finds it’s way.”

“Huh,” He said. “Direct contact.”

“Yep,” You replied.

“Intriguing,” He said, looking you up and down. “I wonder…”

“You wonder what?”

“Well,” He said slowly, still eyeing you. “The physiology of two arachne would make copulation in this manner impossible, but…” He paused and scrapped a fang over his lip. “If an arachne and a human were to attempt it… I wonder if they could…”

Your face flushed and your heart pounded. “Maybe… we could experiment. For science.”

He grinned slowly at you. “Yes,” He agreed. “For science.”

You stood and kissed him, pushing your tongue past his lips, careful not to graze the fangs. He reciprocated, his upper pair of hands in your hair and his lower pair of hands touching up and down your body. You felt his hands tug at your shirt and his fingers drifted feather light across the skin of your nipples. He was fascinated by how they hardened under his touch. You stripped off your shirt and jeans, tugging down your underwear as you did so. His hands continued to roam your skin.

“You’re so soft,” He marveled. “I’m almost hesitant to try anything for fear of hurting you.”

“You won’t,” You laughed. “I’ve had it rough before. As long as we’re careful and listen to each other, I’m sure we’ll both be fine.”

“You’re sure?” He asked, his hands moving further down.

“Yep,” You said, kissing him. You took one of his hands and pressed it between your legs. He gasped, feeling the folds of skin there. He lifted you and placed you on your back on the wood of the porch so that he could look while he touched.

“So soft!” He exclaimed. His fangs dripped onto your inner thigh.

“Hey, careful!” You warned.

“It’s just saliva,” He assured you. “I can control the venom at will. It won’t hurt you. I just…” He moved in and inhaled deeply. “I just want to taste.”

He put his lips to your body, placing open-mouthed kisses at your pearl and entrance, and you lay your head back and moan, trying to keep your voice down. His upper pair of arms tangle their fingers with yours while the lower set gripped your hips. His long tongue snaked out and pressed inside you as he sucked, and you struggled against his hold, bucking.

“Is this good?” He asked. “I’ve never been with a human, so I’m not completely sure.”

“It’s so good, please don’t stop,” You gasped, and he went back to his task with renewed vigor.

It had been a long time since you had been with anyone and the pent up frustration was finally being relieved. It didn’t take long for the sensations to overtake you, and it was all you could do to stop the moans from getting too loud. You eventually had to push him away, sensitive after the orgasm he’d given you.

He raised up on his hands over you and looked at your face. “Good?”

“So good,” You breathed, reaching up to pull his face down for a kiss. “Your turn.”

He grinned and rolled onto his back.

“So, I’ve never been with one of you before, either,” You said, looking over his body in the porch light. “You’re going to have to give me some instructions.”

He laughed. “Do you see that slit there on my abdomen? It can be hard to see when I’m… unaroused, but it should be slightly opened now.”

You saw it, an opening in his body that glistened with it’s own lubricant.

“Just touch it. Stroke it. You sort of have to… tease the palp out,” He said.

“That’s not so different from human men, actually,” You said. “Would I be too heavy if I sat on you?”

“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “You look like you barely weigh anything.”

“How sweet of you to say!” You told him, and he looked confused by your response but also pleased you found it complimentary. You got up on his abdomen, straddling him so that you could see his face. Tentatively, you reached out to stroke a finger along the puckering slit on his body.

He groaned and his head hit the boards of the porch.

“That’s a good sound?” You asked.

“Very,” He gasped. “More, please.”

You bent down and ran your tongue along the opening, and he nearly shouted, his legs kicking. The more you touched it, the more the slit opened, and you could see the head of an organ begin to peek out and extend toward you. You let your tongue touch it, and he spasmed.

You reached your fingers in, stroking the walls inside and coaxing his length out of its sheath as he groaned and caught his breath. It took some time and patience and careful ministrations, but eventually it was at full attention. It was black and knotted and segmented, like the rest of his body.

You took it in hand and pumped it a few times, making his abs contract. “Are you ready to try this?”

“Yes,” He said breathlessly. “Please.”

You maneuvered yourself over him, guiding him to your wet folds, easing him into you.

“Oh, god,” He gasped. His upper set of hands were too far away to grab you so he gripped his hair instead. You leaned forward on your hands to reach his lower set and held them against his body, using him as leverage. Pressing your knees into his abdomen, you began to bounce against him, adoring the way the knots of his member rubbed you from the inside. It wasn’t like anything you’d felt before but it was incredible.

“Are you okay?” You asked him in a gasp. “I know this is new to you, but--”

“It’s astonishing,” He rasped, gulping air as his body twitched from the sensations. “Direct contact is _wonderful_.”

You laughed and moaned, bouncing faster. You leaned forward more, pushing back and pulling forward, so that it rubbed your bud with each thrust. You both tried hard to keep your voices down, but it was becoming hard to do.

“Oh, fuck,” You whispered. “I’m close. Are you?”

“A moment,” He wheezed. His body was convulsing and his legs were scrabbling at air. “I’m nearly… there…” He gasped, and his back arched under you, driving himself into you as deep as he could go. You cried out as the wall of pleasure hit you with the force of a truck. You went silent and open-mouthed as your body spasmed over his, and he writhed and jerked as he poured himself into you, a seemingly endless stream, gushing out and down his body. All you could do was ride this wave and wait for him to spend himself, your entire body rigid with pleasure.

Finally, his body relaxed underneath you and you collapsed on top of him. The night air was cooling, and as your heart slowed, you started to feel cold. You pulled yourself upward toward his human half, letting him fall out of you with a _plop_ , and sank down to the floor next to him where he could wrap you up in his arms. He rested his chin on your head and the two of you just breathed for a while. You looked down at his body and saw the black member disappear into the silver entrance on his abdomen, which closed up afterward.

“I’d say that experiment was a success,” He said, laughing.

“Agreed,” You replied. “Although, we might want to think about putting up some sort of shelter. The last thing I want is for Luna to walk in on us.”

“Oh, god, no, that would be horrible,” He said with a grimace.

“I was thinking,” You said. “Maybe instead of rebuilding the fence, we could extend the house. We could build another room, one that had a door you could get through, maybe take down this entire wall.” You gestured at the kitchen wall with the backdoor in it. “So that you could actually get into the house. You still wouldn’t be able to go upstairs, but I’m thinking we could build a fenced-in patio on top. What do you think?”

He looked down at you with a serious smile. “You’d do all that for me?”

“If you’re going to stay with us, then you should _stay_ with us,” You said. “You just made a pledge to me, didn’t you? Think of it as my pledge to you. If you’re promising to stay with us and love us, the least we can do is provide you with shelter and protection. No more wandering.”

He sighed, stroking your arm. “That does sound nice,” He replied dreamily. “I can help, if you need it. I know were to find more diamonds.”

“That would definitely help,” You said with a laugh. You sat up and looked down at him. “Is this what you want?”

“Yes,” He said, caressing your face. “I want to be with you and Luna always. I want a home and a family again.”

“Then that’s what you’ll have.” You said, and you kissed him.

It took about two months to renovate the house so that it would accommodate him. You bought the house outright from the owner the very next day after Jin had made his pledge and started the construction immediately. The contractors you hired were highly confused by your new open floor plan, as well as your desire to raise the ceiling by a foot and a half, but you were paying them a king’s ransom to do it, so they didn’t complain.

Finally, it was finished. There was a large door at the end connecting the house to the woods, one that Jin could open and enter without your assistance. He even wore the key to it around his neck. There was plenty of room for him to move around the downstairs now, so he didn’t have to sit outside at all hours. Part of the new addition had been walled off and made into a new bedroom for the two of you, so that Luna couldn’t walk in on your love making experiments. The patio on top of the addition even had a door that led out of Luna’s room, so that she and Jin could have tea parties and play during the day, and so he could tuck her in and read her a story at night. Now that you had taught him to read, that is.

Once it was done, the three of you gathered on the patio for an afternoon princess tea party, when Luna asked: “Mama, why did we change the house?”

“For Jin. Remember, I told you it’s so he can live here with us.”

“I know, but why does he want to live with us?”

You cleared your throat and shared a glance with Jin before replying, “Jin has decided to stay here with us forever. He wants to be with mommy. And he wants to stay to play with you and protect you. Because he loves us.”

Luna was quiet for a moment, looking between you and Jin, who seemed apprehensive.

“So…” She said, her five year old brain working it out. “Is Jin my daddy now?”

Jin looked like he’d swallowed his heart.

“Yes,” You said firmly. “Jin is your dad.”

“Okay!” Luna said brightly, bouncing out of her seat and into Jin’s arms. “That’s fine with me.”

Jin grinned widely enough to crack his face, and crushed her to him. “Me too,” He said. “Now, why don’t you go and get a washcloth? You’ve got jam on your face.”

“Okay, Daddy,” she said, and leapt from his arms to dash inside.

Jin gripped your arm. “I can’t breathe,” He told you.

"It's nice, huh?" You laughed, wiping where Luna had smeared jam on him. “I know this must all be rather strange to you, setting up house with a human.”

“A little,” he said. “But it’s worth it. And it’s not like there isn’t a precedent for this sort of thing.”

“Isn’t there?”

He shook his head. “Surely you’ve heard the legend about this forest.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Many of the creatures here say that there used to be a human woman who married a bat monster and they lived right there in those woods hundreds of years ago,” He said. “They took in all kinds of beings, humans and creatures alike, who needed a home. They were guardians, protectors of this place. Apparently back then, human and monster couplings weren’t so uncommon. At least, not for this region.”

“Do you think the legend is true?” You asked him.

“Maybe,” He replied. “There’s a red naga on the far side of the forest who swears up and down that he’s a descendant of such a union.”

“A naga,” You said in disbelief. “Those are real?”

“As real as I am,” He responded with a grin. “Anyway, it doesn’t need to be true for us to love each other. We can make our own legends.”

You laughed as Luna returned with a towel in one hand and another jar of jam, which she was spilling in a trail behind her, and sat back at the table. Jin kissed her cheek and took the towel, cleaning up her mess.

“I like that idea.” You said softly as you watched them. “I like it a lot.”


End file.
